Improvement in screw-fastenings for coffins



J. MCCARTHY.

SCREW FASTEVNINGS FOR comm-s. No.187,883, Patented Feb. 27, 1877.

\Nqkssas \$\I Q 7 ZW/@ @241 W UNITED STATS JOHN MCCARTHY, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN SCREW-FASTENINGS FOR COFFINS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. fl,@8, dated February 27, 1877 application filed February 9. 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN McGARrHY, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Screw-Fastenings, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to facilitate the attachment and removal of the lids of coffins and the connecting and disconnecting generally of bodies or parts united by screws.

The invention consists principally in the combination with the attaching-screw of a catch or sectional nut held engaged with the threads of the screw by a spring, and readily caused to release its hold upon the screw, constructed to operate substantially in the mannor hereinafter fully described.

The invention admits of many variations and modifications in its detail, construction, and arrangement without changing its modus operandi or impairing its efiectiveness.

The drawing illustrates two difi'erent constructions of my invention. Figure l is a vertical section; Fig. 2, an exterior view; and Figs. 3 and 4, horizontal sections of one construction.

s is the ordinary screw for attaching the part A to the part B. It is fitted loosely in the part B, and, at a proper depth, engages with a bale or loop, b, attached to a bowspring, a, on the outside of the part B and plays in a channel, a, transverse in the said part. By pressing upon the spring a the loop bis forced inward and caused to release its hold upon the screw 8, and allow the same to be readily withdrawn.

In Figs. 5, 6, and 7 the loop is substituted by a plate, b, actuated by a spiral spring, a, on the outside of the part B, and having an elongated eye, 6, the inner end of which is of proper size to act as a section of anut fitting the threads of the screw, and the outer end enlarged, so that when the plate is forced inward and the screw 8 brought into the enlargement of the eye 6 the screw is released and allowed to be withdrawn.

The arrangement of the device may be further changed, so as to require the catch b to be drawn outward to release the screw, by reversing the form of the catch and applying a torsion-spring, to draw it inward against the screw.

The advantages of this invention when applied to coffins and burial-caskets Will be appreciated by undertakers, as it enables them to apply and remove the lid in a very short time, and without the aid of a screw-driver, thus at the same time avoiding the danger of marring the (:offin, incident from the slipping of the screw-driver.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is The improved screw-fastening, consisting of the screw 8 fitted loosely in the body B, and a movable catch or sectional nut, 11, in channel a, transverse in said body, and held engaged withthe threads of the screw by a spring, constructed and combined to operate substantially as described and shown, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name and affixed my seal, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, this 3d day of February, 1877.

JOHN MCCARTHY.

Witnesses:

J ON. CURT. A. LIMA, EMIL BENDIXEN. 

